Canvas Tower Defense
Canvas Tower Defense puts you in charge of a black field split by a bright blue road, with small red creeps marching along it in groups of ten. You stop them by building turrets on the open ground beside the path. The waves never end, so each run is about beating your own best score.
Building a defense needs only a web page, so a school Chromebook can run a full match with no setup. The original was made by Teddy Cross under the name Canvas TD, and it plays with keyboard shortcuts or just the mouse.
How to play Canvas Tower Defense
Start by choosing one of three maps. Loopy curls toward the center, Backtrack folds back on itself, and Dash runs in one straight line. You get $35 and ten lives. Pick a turret from the bottom bar, or press 1 to 4, then click any empty spot that is off the road and not touching another turret.
Each creep you destroy earns you as many dollars as the current wave number, which means income grows as the game goes on. Click a turret to select it and raise its damage, fire rate or range. Each stat goes up to level 10, and prices climb from $25 to $1,000 per level. Max out all three and the turret gains a special effect.
A creep that makes it to the end of the road takes one life. When all ten are gone, the run ends and your score is your kill count multiplied by the money you spent. Your five best runs on each map are saved in your browser.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pick a turret to build | 1 Laser, 2 Missile, 3 Tazer, 4 Mortar | Click a turret in the bottom bar, then click the map | Tap a turret, then tap the map |
| Upgrade a selected turret | 1 damage, 2 rate, 3 range | Click the upgrade buttons | Tap the upgrade buttons |
| Move a selected turret ($90) | 4 | Click Move, then a new spot | — |
| Sell a selected turret | * (Shift + 8) | Click Sell | — |
| Call the next wave early | Enter | Click the red square, bottom right | — |
| Fast forward on or off | = | Click the blue square | — |
| Cancel or pause | Esc | Click Pause | — |
Tips
- Lasers cost only $15, so your opening cash buys two of them. That gives you early firepower before the first wave even arrives.
- On Loopy and Backtrack, set turrets inside the curves. A single spot there can cover several sections of road at the same time.
- Put a Tazer next to your damage turrets. Slowed creeps stay inside the kill zone longer, and that adds up fast on later waves.
- Creep health keeps rising, so one heavily upgraded turret often does more than three cheap ones. Push one stat high before you build wide.
- Selling gives back just 70 percent and also cuts the spending half of your score. Use Move for $90 instead when a turret is in the wrong place.
If you like Canvas Tower Defense, try these
PoliGuardEndless waves again, with seven shape towers and upgrades that boost every tower of one type at once.
Hex FormationTower defense on a hexagon grid, with three tower types, ten lives and a set ten waves to survive.
Questions
Does Canvas Tower Defense have a last wave?
No. New waves keep arriving on a timer and creeps get tougher each time. Your run only stops when ten creeps have reached the end of the road.
How is the score calculated?
The game multiplies the number of creeps you killed by the total money you spent on turrets and upgrades. Refunds from selling are taken back off the spending total.
Are my high scores saved?
Yes. Your browser keeps a top-five list for every map on that device. You can open them from the game-over panel to see the date, kills and money spent.
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